Great news from China - Pipistrel signed largest contract in 27 years history

On 24. September 2016, a Slovenian company Pipistrel d.o.o. Ajdovscina and Chinese company Sino GA Group Co. have signed a Memorandum of Understanding for a long-term joint-venture cooperation in the field of light and general aviation in the regions of China, East Asian countries and Asian pacific.

Mr. Ivo Boscarol, general manager of Pipistrel and Mr. Wu Guo Ying, chairman of the Sino GA Group Co., are signing the Memorandum (click to enlarge).

Mr. Ivo Boscarol is the company shareholder and aircraft production supervisor

Mr. Wu Guo Ying, chairman, owner of EASTIDA Group

Ms. Wu Lishan is Mr. WuÔÇÖs daughter and the Vice Director

Mr. Hao Danny Wu, CEO of Sino GA

Official presentation of the cooperation was held on 2nd November 2016 at 10:00 AM, at the China International Aviation & Aerospace Exhibition in Zhu Hai, the biggest Air show in China where at the booth of Sino Group & Flying tigers, the General distributor of Pipistrel for China, three Pipistrel aircraft are displayed.

Press conference at the Aviation & Aerospace Exhibition in Zhu Hai(click to enlarge).

The formal contract signing ceremony will be included in the framework of the upcoming Summit side event on 5th November 2016 at the Prime Ministers of China and Central and Eastern European Countries summit 16 + 1 in Riga, Latvia, as it is ranked among those of particular significance for bilateral between the two countries.

Pipistrel is a world leading small aircraft designer and producer, specialized in electric-powered aircraft. With more than a quarter of a century of tradition and with own intellectual property, Pipistrel which has gained significant international reputation and has presented in unique, innovative products.Sino GA Group Co is a newly established company, member of the larger Sino group. The companies in the group have been cooperating for more than two dozen years and have been successful in many different fields of businessA member of the Group is also the Flying Tigers (Beijing) General Aviation Co. Ltd as a subsidiary company, who is the exclusive representative and distributor of Pipistrel in China. The company specializes in areas of General Aviation (GA) and airport construction, aircraft and special public security equipment manufacturing, private and glider pilot training, and other GA related operations throughout China. The airports and bases where the company operates are set in Beijing, Taizhou, Yinchuan, Huangping, Dalian and Heibei.

Per the market analysis of the current GA situation in China, both partners see a great potential for cooperation, especially since the Chinese validation of four Pipistrel aircraft certificates has now opened immense possibilities for sales in China.

Both partners see a clear trend towards green aviation, so after two years of preparations they have agreed on transfer of technologies and setting up a new company in China, where electric aircraft will be manufactured, especially the Alpha Electro and Panthera Hybrid models. The production capacity will be more than 500 aircraft per year.

The two companies are entering a long-term partnership. One of the goals of the cooperation is also to increase the number of R&D projects and support the transfer of technologies. To achieve stronger business connection between the two partners and to empower the mutual efforts, the partners also agreed to exchange a part of capital shares and partial ownership during the duration of the contract.

The combined value of the 7-years project (which will include building new centres with aircraft production facilities for both models, a runway, and a maintenance and training facility for both models in Taizhou, Zhejiang Province and Yinchuan) is more than 500 million EUR.

The cooperation valued at more than 350 million EUR will enable Sino GA Group Co. to benefit from PipistrelÔÇÖs:-exclusive rights to use the technology and to produce two aircraft models (Alpha Electro and Panthera Hybrid) within China; -exclusive right for the sales of the two aircraft models in Chinese territory and in the neighbour countries, namely Myanmar, Laos, Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia, Taiwan, Philippines, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Brunei, Korea and Mongolia.-the contract also includes the delivery of 50 aircraft of each model, all required know-how on assembly of the two models, training of the personnel in Slovenia, implementation of the assembly process in new facilities in China, as well as supervision of newly established production to assure the same quality of the produced aircraft as the ones made by Pipistrel in Slovenia.-for the value of the contract Pipistrel will also provide the design documentation of the factory, technical organisation per the Civil aviation requirements, needed special machinery and tooling, software, company management organisation, facility personnel training and consulting.

Pipistrel will use a part of the mentioned amount also for the development of a new, very innovative zero emission 19-seat aircraft, powered by hybrid electric technology and hydrogen low temperature PEM fuel cells, planned for public transport between the cities in China and all over the world.

The press conference with the presence of all Chinese partners was held also at Pipistrel headquarters in Ajdovscina, Slovenia, 8th. November 2016 at 10:00h where the cooperation was presented more in detail.